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Big Red and his team of supernatural ass-kickers team up against a bloodthirsty vampiress and the evil goddess Hecate. Yes, I said goddess.

IS IT A GOOD MOVIE?

Having seen both of the animated HELLBOY adventures that were produced to keep fans salivating until the live-action sequel pops up, I must admit that they're both actually pretty cool. Neither SWORD OF STORMS nor the new one, BLOOD & IRON, are as dark as Mike Mignola's graphic novels, nor are they as endearingly weird as Guillermo del Toro's very solid movie adaptation ... but fans of the property, particularly younger ones, should find enough to enjoy here.

Crazy monsters, simple adventure stories, and frequent fighting are the order of the day where HELLBOY ANIMATED is concerned, and taken at face value, these slick little semi-sequels are pretty solid stuff. It helps that Mignola and del Toro have remained (a least somewhat) involved with this series, and while it's clear that some of the rougher edges and darker themes have been toned down just a bit, there's still more than enough horror-type lunacy to keep those pint-sized genre geeks happy.

While the animation style sure isn't Disney, there's a gritty-yet-stylized approach that's still pretty slick. Plus it's great to see (well, hear) that HELLBOY actors Ron Perlman, John Hurt and Selma Blair have come back to do the voice-work here. Just adds a little touch of fanboy-friendly continuity is all. Like I said, these are just fan-centric little placeholders meant to keep the franchise warm until HELLBOY 2: THE GOLDEN ARMY arrives -- but they're pretty well-made and fairly entertaining, too.

THE EXTRAS

Well the movie's only about 80 minutes, but there's a bunch of extra goodies to keep you busy once it's over:

Mike Mignola, producer Tad Stones and director Victor Cook provide a smooth and informative audio commentary track that should certainly please the fans. Also included is a featurette called "Reversal of Fortune," which offers one of the movie's "subplots told backwards," only this time in a much more chronological fashion.

You'll also find a "making-of" featurette called "Tales from the Tomb," a brand-new animated HELLBOY short called IRON SHOES, and a pretty nifty DVD comic book called "The Penanggalan," which is a pretty cool addition for the old-school fans.

FINAL DIAGNOSIS

Guillermo del Toro's HELLBOY is one of those quirky action adventures that gets a little more entertaining every time I watch it. These animated semi-sequels aren't nearly as satisfying as the live-action fare (or Mr. Mignola's original books), but they're still pretty fun for the fans.